This is the Best Pole Feeder Rig You'll Ever Use - Match Masterclass

It’s very easy to spot when someone is using this method because they will have attached a top section of a feeder rod onto the top kit of their pole. In the video I'm using the quivertip section from a 9ft feeder rod, fitted onto the top of a Matrix shallow kit. It might look a bit unusual, but trust me, this is the best way to fish the pole feeder. That quivertip provides perfect bite indication, and when you see it in action, you’ll understand why it’s so effective.

The pole feeder rig is actually quite simple once you take a closer look at it. You will need to have a play around with a few different top kits and feeder rod top sections to find a pair that fit together nicely. In my own experiments I have found that quite a lot of these do fit together particularly using shallow fishing top kits and they are all roughly the same diameter. The feeder rod section essentially becomes a top kit and in order to elasticate I found a rig bead big enough to not pass through the lower eye on the feeder rod section and then simply run some number 8 elastic through the eyes of the rod and at the tip I have used a dacron connector exactly the same way I would with a normal pole top kit. The soft action of the quiver tip combined with the stretch of the elastic makes a really good combination for playing fish should you end up hooking into something bigger.

For the business end, I like to keep things as simple as possible. I am on the river for this session in a spot that I have never fished before so I started with a small feeder with the weight at the bottom, introducing small amounts of bait on each cast to feel my way into the session. The feeder is secured between two float stops and below that I use pre-tied one metre hooklengths and trim them down to about a foot. That shorter length gives a really direct bite indication and helps you connect instantly when the tip twitches. It’s all about efficiency, picking up quick bites, landing fish fast and shipping back out again. 

What makes this setup so deadly is the combination of pole precision and the baiting aspect of the feeder. Every drop hits the exact same spot, and the quivertip tells you everything that’s happening under the water. You’re never guessing you can see the tiniest liners, the rattles from the roach, the tip will pull right round with positive pulls from larger fish. It's a method that shines when you need to build a net very consistently in river matches.

In this session we were catching a roach pretty much every cast. The tip was rattling away almost as soon as it hit the bottom so to try and sort out a larger fish I switched the tactics a little to fish a little further out into the river. The key change I made was adding a cable tie to the pole at roughly the distance the feeder sits from the tip. This enables me to hook the feeder over the cable tie as I ship out so that it does not dangle into the water and drop the bait before it’s out where I want to fish. Once the feeder is hooked onto the pole I can add my pole sections, ship out as normal and then finally I rotate the pole allowing the feeder to swing free from the cable tie and then drop into the water. With a bit of practice this becomes extremely efficient and it's far more accurate then its possible to be casting a rod and line. It really is a powerful advantage in a match. 

On this session I was using a fairly standard selection of feeder fishing baits but it's worth quickly running through what works well with this method. Chopped worm is an absolute winner for roach, perch and bream love them as well. Interestingly I did catch a few perch using worms in this session. I got through a couple of pints of casters during the session too, those worked really well too. Maggots and corn are great options for hookbait and for the ground bait I used a 50/50 mix of Dynamite Silver X river and Silver X Roach, that’s a regular go-to for me when I'm fishing the rivers. 

The pole feeder rig might look a little unusual at first glance, but once you give it a go, you’ll see just how effective it can be. On this occasion we didn't manage any of those larger fish, on these tidal Norfolk rivers they seem to either be feeding or not and on this occasion I wasn’t able to tempt them. I do however urge you to give the pole feeder a try. It's incredibly effective and a really enjoyable way to fish the rivers, and it can be tweaked and adjusted to suit all different kinds of situations.